WHY NOT ROAD MEGA BLOCKS TO FILL POTHOLES, HC ASKS BMC

The Bombay high court on Friday suggested that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) take a cue from the suburban railways and adopt the system of ‘mega blocks’ to cordon off roads and repair potholes ahead of monsoon.

A bench of justices, VM Kanade and PR Bora, said the BMC and the city’s traffic department coordinate and plan such mega blocks in advance so that citizens can be informed in time.

“The people of Mumbai are tolerant. They will plan their commutes accordingly. Just as how you announce road blocks for Ganpati and other occasions, plan the same for repairing potholes too,” the bench said.

The bench was hearing a suo moto PIL on the poor condition of roads in Mumbai and the BMC’S failure to prevent and repair potholes every monsoon.

During the previous hearing last month, the BMC counsel told the court that while the corporation already began the repair work, it was facing some problems coordinating with the traffic and the city police departments.

The corporation had said that according to the first phase of BMC’S plan, work on 94 “critical” roads and traffic junctions had begun and that it had identified 938 stretches that required repairs and the tenders for such works would be issued next month. BMC’S counsel had said that, however, the court must direct the police to allow BMC to cordon off such roads for repair work.

The MMRDA, meanwhile, submitted it had come up with a plan to upgrade the Eastern and Western Express Highways “to give riders an international commuting experience.”

The corporation also said it had constituted an expert committee comprising its own engineers, officials of the CRRI, and Iit-bombay to suggest quality methods, material for repair/ road construction work. It said it had tested products of five companies’ last monsoons, selected two, and was trying to get them to share their technology to ensure that the repair work dries up and settles quicker than the traditional methods that it currently employs.